SENTIERO
WINNER OF THE ITALIAN COUNCIL 2022
Biennale Gherdëina ∞
Alex Cecchetti – Winner of the 10th Edition of the Italian Council
Val Gardena / Ortisei, ITALY
February 2022
Alex Cecchetti’s project SENTIERO has been selected as one of the winners of the 10th edition of the Italian Council, the international art promotion programme organised by the Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The award, announced in February 2022, supports the global dissemination and realisation of innovative contemporary art projects, and enables SENTIERO to premiere at the 8th Biennale Gherdëina ∞ and continue its journey across prominent institutions internationally.
From 20 May to 25 September 2022, SENTIERO will be presented as part of the 8th Biennale Gherdëina ∞ in Ortisei/Urtijëi (Val Gardena, Dolomites), curated by Lucia Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos, within the unique landscape of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
SENTIERO manifests as a path immersed in nature, conceived as a collaborative community art project, a land art installation, and a performative walk-piece exploring the notion of walking itself—both physical and imaginary. The work invites participants to experience the landscape as a living narrative, rebuilding the relationship between the human body, the environment, and aesthetics.
The path is traced by Cecchetti together with a group of local guides trained by the artist. These guides accompany participants, ensuring the integrity of the work while activating its performative dimension. Wearing costumes printed with natural pigments from local plants, they tell stories, recite poems, sing, and invite the public into direct sensory cooperation with the environment.
Between 2022 and 2023, the project will continue internationally, travelling to institutions including Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol (Innsbruck, Austria), IASPIS (Stockholm, Sweden), Kestner Gesellschaft (Hannover, Germany), Somalgors74 (Tschlin, Switzerland), and MAXXI Aquila (L’Aquila, Italy). The work will then enter the permanent collection of MUSEION – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Bolzano, Italy). This institutional cycle reflects the work’s nomadic vocation and its ambition to cross cultural, political, linguistic, and species borders, especially those that historically characterise the region between North and South Tyrol.
Along the walk, experiential stations rhythm the journey of participants: places to perceive the landscape, commune with trees and other species, observe astronomical events, or simply breathe the air shaped by plant ancestors. A yurt structure, inspired by nomadic dwellings of Mongolian and Afghan cultures, is entirely embroidered and painted with natural plant dyes harvested from local flora. This structure acts as a refuge where participants can stay overnight and, in collaboration with a local chef, share a meal, a gesture of hospitality at the heart of the artwork.
The project is realised thanks to the support of the Italian Council 10th edition, recognising SENTIERO as a project of international relevance, ecological care, and poetic collaboration with the living world.